Anything short of Olympic gold would be a disappointment for American Ilia Malinin, figure skating’s back-flipping chosen one. Elsewhere on Team USA, fellow figure skater Maxim Naumov has already achieved his dreams by qualifying after a roller coaster year.
The two rising stars, forever linked by the fatal crash outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last year, are projected to be the breakout stars of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Malinin will catch eyes for his raw power and precision. The Virginia native is one of the only skaters in the world to incorporate back flips into his routines. He was the first man to land a quadruple axel in 2022. Malinin is still the only skater to complete the 1,440-degree jump in competition.
His programs suck the air out of arenas with their spectacular athleticism and fearless feats of acrobatics.
“Ilia is a whole different, like, factor,” fellow American Olympic skater Amber Glenn said. “I mean, he’s the son of two incredible figure skaters, and he’s just built, quite literally, different. And like, it’s insane. He’s both talented and hardworking, and it’s amazing what he does.”
The 21-year-old is likely the most famous skater in the world. That distinction also made him the de facto spokesperson for his sport after 28 members of the figure skating community died in the collision of a plane and an Army helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025.
Malinin, a George Mason University student, appeared on numerous news programs to detail the impact of the tragedy. The skating world lost more than two dozen skaters, coaches and parents. The Boston and Washington regions — the respective homes of Naumov and Malinin — were most heavily impacted.
Celebrity and responsibility
Malinin helped organize the “Legacy on Ice” event in March, a skating showcase that raised more than $1 million for the victims’ families.
The past 12 months have flown by at a breakneck pace.
“I wish I had that time to catch my breath,” Malinin told The Washington Times in October.
The reigning world champion is the clear Olympic favorite this year. He has the social media following, endorsement deals and celebrity friends to prove it. He took to the ice in Milan on Monday, donning yellow laces given to him by Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin.
His swagger resembles that of a touring musician more than the prim-and-proper preconception many casual fans have of figure skaters. He has performed routines in hoodies, more often choosing songs by rapper NF or rock band Falling in Reverse than by classical composers.
“I always try to express it in my own way, that is not really typical to what people have thought skating was,” Malinin said. “It’s new and refreshing, almost something that this sport needed — a little more of a refresh to really change it up a little bit so that people can enjoy it more in this generation.”
He has been preparing for this Olympic moment for years. The four-time U.S. champion said his training regimen has been carefully curated so that he is at his “peak” this month.
“Ilia challenges himself constantly,” said Rafael Arutyunyan, Malinin’s coach. “Our biggest challenge is keeping the team of people who work with him on the same page. We’re all there for him when he needs his team most.”
Naumov’s roller coaster
The figure skating world’s eyes are perpetually trained on Malinin, and Milan will be no different, but Naumov’s story is practically guaranteed to tug at the audience’s heartstrings when he takes the stage in northern Italy.
He lost both of his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova — who were also his coaches — in the American Airlines crash that killed 67 people in January 2025. He wasn’t sure whether he would ever skate again. Now, he is heading to the Olympics.
Naumov was widely considered a long shot to make Team USA’s roster last month, but two-time Olympian Jason Brown botched his free skate in the U.S. Championships by falling to the ice twice. A spot on the three-man squad was up for grabs.
Naumov delivered a strong performance at the event. His choreographer, Benoit Richaud, still worried that the Boston native would fall just short.
“But it’s sports,” Mr. Richaud said. “You never know.”
“It was such a roller coaster. There’s always a chance that you skate your best and it’s not enough,” said Anne Goldberg-Baldwin, Naumov’s friend who works with him at the Skating Club of Boston. “If that was all it was, I couldn’t have been more proud of him.”
Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin traveled to St. Louis to watch Naumov skate in the championships, but she couldn’t bear to watch the selection ceremony.
“I was too nervous,” she said. “It was such a wave of relief and happiness — happy tears — to know that he finally got the selection.”
Mr. Richaud, also watching from a distance, joined in crying tears of joy.
Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin and Mr. Richaud couldn’t help but allow their emotions to take over.
They had spent a year constantly thinking about Naumov and his family. They worried he would never skate again. Nobody would blame him, they noted, for avoiding the ice after losing his parents.
Naumov took over his parents’ role as director of the Tomorrow’s Champions program, a youth skating organization in Boston. Carrying on their legacy was a top priority for the skater, then just 24.
“He’s grown up so much in ways that I wish he never had to,” said Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin, an instructor with Tomorrow’s Champions. “To come to the decision that he did want to skate. There was a time when we weren’t sure what he was going to do, understandably so. He has just matured beyond his years.”
After honoring his parents at the Legacy on Ice event, Naumov decided to return to competitive skating. The Connecticut native carried a new fire as he prepared to take the ice again.
“Qualities that he had before are still there,” Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin said. “They’re just amplified.”
Those qualities drew Mr. Richaud to Naumov when the French choreographer first saw him skate in Boston nearly five years ago. Mr. Richaud said he was immediately impressed by Naumov’s command of the ice.
“He’s not just a technician. He’s good artistically, has good physicality, a beautiful face. He feels the music and has good emotion,” Mr. Richaud said. “He has that natural feeling that just works on the ice. It’s his Russian blood — they have a little extra passion for ice.”
Mr. Richaud and Naumov reconnected in June. The 25-year-old wanted to return to competition.
After countless hours on the ice, they choreographed a routine set to classical composer Frederic Chopin. The score allowed them to design a routine that was emotional without dipping into cliche.
For weeks, Naumov practiced as he grieved.
“I don’t know how he does it. It was difficult for him to find purpose. His angel grabbed him — it’s kind of divine. Even when he didn’t want to wake up, he just did. Even when practice wasn’t good, he kept his discipline,” Mr. Richaud said. “He just did it. It’s this magical power that he got; it’s just amazing.”
Naumov found a way to honor his late parents and set a goal.
“He was very clear in his mind,” Mr. Richaud said. “‘I want to go to the Olympics.’”
His fellow instructors at Tomorrow’s Champions describe Naumov as the salt of the earth. Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin, an avid gardener, remembers calling him on a particularly humid August day to help dig holes in her yard.
Naumov was there moments later, dressed in gym clothes and ready to sweat. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t touched a shovel in his life.
“That humility, the willingness to just go try something new, he’s always like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. Let’s go do that. That sounds great,’” Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin said. “That kind of attitude is what really, I think, reflects on the ice and has gotten him where he’s gotten.”
Naumov lands in the Olympics having already achieved his goal.
He qualified.
Opposite expectations
When he takes the ice, it will be a victory lap.
“At this point, he won already. He won peace inside himself,” Mr. Richaud said. “He goes [to the Olympics] very light. He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. He’s not like Ilia Malinin, who goes out to win every time. Maxim won by qualifying.”
“Vadim and [Evgenia] would be so proud. They were already so proud of him — it didn’t matter if he had the skate of his life or fell seven times,” Ms. Goldberg-Baldwin said. “I know they are just beaming.”
Meanwhile, Malinin is facing the most pressure in his life. He may call himself the “Quad God,” but the constant media circus and social media frenzies around him are reaching a fever pitch.
He might make the back flips look easy, but the constant grind of practice and outside critiques can wear at even the most decorated athletes.
“A lot of times, for me, when I hear or see negative feedback about me or my skating, I’m not really affected. But there are times where it hits harder than others,” Malinin said. “It’s OK to remind yourself that you are human. You are just an average person that goes through all the same things as everyone else.”
The most tumultuous year of Naumov’s and Malinin’s lives comes to a head with the Olympics’ opening ceremony Friday night. Naumov, the ultimate Cinderella story, and Malinin, the gravity-defying champion, are set to skate beginning Tuesday for a shot at men’s Olympic gold.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.
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